Terrapins Travel to Face Hokies
1/10/2008 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 10, 2008
The University of Maryland (10-6, 0-1 ACC) travels to face Virginia Tech (9-6, 0-1 ACC) Saturday (January 12) at Cassell Coliseum. Tipoff between the Terps and Hokies is set for 2:00 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on the Terrapin Sports Radio Network and will be televised by Raycom Sports.
• Saturday's game is the 32nd meeting between the two schools. Maryland leads the all-time series, 25-6, and has won eight of the last 10 meetings.
• Sophomore Greivis Vasquez leads the Terps with 16.9 points per game. He is the fifth-leading scorer in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Junior A.D. Vassallo, the eighth-leading scorer in the ACC, leads Virginia Tech with 15.7 points per contest.
Maryland has utilized a balanced offensive attack this season as four Terps average double figures in scoring. Greivis Vasquez leads the team with 16.9 points per game, while senior James Gist has averaged 14.6 points per contest. Sophomore Eric Hayes is averaging 11.0 points and senior Bambale Osby has added 10.8 points per game.
• All four players have increased their scoring average from last season. They average 53.3 of Maryland's 71.9 points per game.
Defense has been a constant for the Terrapins this season. Maryland leads the ACC and is 12th in the nation in field goal percentage defense, as the Terrapins have limited their opponents to just 37 percent shooting from the field.
• Maryland leads the league and is seventh in the country in blocked shots. The Terps average 7.31 blocked shots per game. James Gist is second in the league with 2.60 blocks per game, while fellow senior Bambale Osby is fourth in the ACC with 2.13 blocks per contest.
Head coach Gary Williams is tied as the seventh-winningest active head coach in NCAA Division I men's basketball with an overall record of 595-334 (.640). He ranks second among active ACC coaches with 388 wins at Maryland (3rd overall) and also ranks second among active league coaches with 157 ACC victories. Williams is the Terps' all-time winningest coach.
• Williams is just five wins shy of 600 career victories. Only six active head coaches in Division I have 600 career wins.
The University of Maryland men's basketball program was ranked among Forbes magazine's top 20 most valuable college basketball programs in an article released January 2nd. The index measured teams based on their contribution to four beneficiaries; their university, athletic department, conference and local communities.
• The Terps ranked 17th out of 20 teams with a value of $13.1 million.
• Maryland was just one of two schools on the top-20 list that are from major metropolitan areas, joining UCLA (14th).
Maryland leads the all-time series with Virginia Tech 25-6 dating back to 1925.
• The Terps have won eight of the last ten meetings with Virginia Tech.
• Maryland played the Hokies 25 times from 1925-54, but did not face them from 1954-90.
• Head coach Gary Williams is 4-2 against Virginia Tech, with all six games as head coach at Maryland. The first two meetings came in 1990 and 1991.
Senior James Gist has joined elite company in the storied history of Maryland Basketball:
• With 18 points against Morgan State (Dec. 6), Gist became the 46th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.
• His scoring average has increased each season, as he is averaging a career-best 14.6 points per game this year.
• With his 629 career rebounds, Gist is just the 22nd player in school history to tally 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
• Gist is sixth on Maryland's all-time blocked shots list with 193 rejections.
• He has scored in double figures in 11 games this year and has four double-doubles (Hampton, Boston College, Delaware and Charlotte).
• The Silver Spring native was named a preseason Wooden Award candidate.
• Gist spend the summer as a member of the USA's Pan Am Games team which earned a fifth-place finish in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Sophomore guard Greivis Vasquez enjoyed a breakout season as a freshman in 2006-07 and has improved in 2007-08:
• Vasquez averages a team-high 16.9 points per game. As a freshman he scored 9.8 points per game.
• He set a new career high with 28 points against American University.
• Vasquez has scored in double figures in 14 of 16 games this season and has led the team in scoring 10 times.
• He leads the team with 97 assists and has dished out at least five assists in 10 games this year. He has recorded 10 or more assists three times (Northeastern, Illinois and Morgan State).
• Vasquez has led the team in assists in eight games this year.
• Vasquez has improved his rebounding from 3.3 per game as a freshman to 5.2 this season.
• He is averaging a team-high 35.9 minutes per game.
• Vasquez spent the summer as a member of the Venezuelan National team which competed in the FIBA Americas Championships in Las Vegas during August.
• Named to the 2008 Cousy Award Preseason List.
Sophomore guard Eric Hayes has built on an impressive freshman season and has continued his development for the Terrapins:
• Hayes has scored in double figures in nine of Maryland's 16 games this season.
• He is second on the team with 81 assists and leads the squad with 23 steals.
• Hayes is second in the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.61).
• He scored a then-career high 18 points against Illinois before pouring in 19 points against Morgan State.
• He is leads the team in free throw shooting. Hayes has connected on 84 percent (27 of 32) of his attempts from the foul line.
Senior Bambale Osby has made a big impact for the Terps at both ends of the floor this season:
• Osby is averaging 10.4 points per game this year after averaging just 5.8 points as a junior.
• He has scored in double figures 10 times this season after only breaking double figures in eight games last year.
• Osby is second on the team with 32 blocked shots. He tallied just 16 blocks as a junior in 2006-07.
• Osby has increased his production on the glass as he is averaging 5.8 rebounds per contest after pulling down 3.9 board per game last year.
After playing in just 16 of 34 games as a freshman, Landon Milbourne spent the summer in College Park working on his game and the results have followed:
• Milbourne is averaging 7.4 points per game this season after averaging 1.0 as a freshman. His rebounding has jumped from 0.8 to 4.0 per game.
• He has scored in double figures in six of the last nine games and set a new career high with 12 points against Holy Cross (January 8).
• Milbourne has made his mark on defense as well, as he is third on the team with 14 blocked shots and has added 10 steals for the season.
Maryland's roster is dominated by underclassmen, as 10 of the 14 Terps are freshmen or sophomores. The underclassmen account for 59 percent of Maryland's scoring, 58 percent of the rebounding and 87 percent of the team's assists.
Maryland has proven to be one of the nation's most proficient 3-point shooting teams since the rule was instituted in 1987.
• Maryland has made at least one 3-pointer in 302 consecutive games.
• Maryland has failed to make a 3-pointer just twice in the last 371 games.
• The last game the Terps failed to make a 3-pointer was Jan. 7, 1999 when Maryland went 0-for-7 from 3-point range in a 71-66 win at Virginia.
• Since Gary Williams took over, Maryland has hit a 3-pointer in 587 of 594 games.
• Since the rule was instituted in 1987, Maryland has hit at least one three-pointer in 645 of 654 games.
• Maryland made a school-record 217 treys in 2001-02.
• The Terps' top 3-point shooting percentage was 46.1% (122-290) in 1987-88.
• Maryland set new school records for most three-pointers in a game (17) and most three-point attempts (37) last season against Missouri-Kansas City.
Maryland is in its 55th season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Terps were a charter member of the conference in 1953-54 after 30 years as a member of the Southern Conference.
• The Terps are 389-377 (.507) all-time in ACC games.
• Maryland is 244-142 (.631) in ACC home games.
• Maryland is 146-235 (.381) in ACC away games.
• Under Gary Williams, Maryland is 157-129 (.546) in ACC play.
• Maryland is 96-47 (.672) at home in ACC games under Williams, including a 27-12 (.686) mark at the Comcast Center.
• The Terps have captured three ACC Tournament Championships: 1958,1984 and 2004.
